Summary
21 July 2010
The publishers of a new biography of the Indian cricketing star, Sachin Tendulkar, say special editions of the book will contain drops of his blood. Copies go on sale in February, costing $75,000 each.
Reporter:
Mark Dummett
Sachin Tendulkar
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Sachin Tendulkar, the leading Indian cricketer of his generation, described this latest tribute to his life and achievements as 'mind-blowing' and it certainly promises to be a book like no other.
For a start, the Tendulkar opus will be absolutely enormous; it will weigh 37 kilograms and its 852 pages, containing more than 1,500 pictures, will each be edged in gold leaf.
But if that wasn't enough, then a special edition will contain traces of the great man himself; his blood will be mixed into the pulp that will make the paper for the signature page.
Carl Fowler, the Chief Executive of Kraken, the book's publishers, admitted in a newspaper interview that this may not be to everyone's taste but said that it was a fitting tribute to a man regarded as a religious icon by millions of people.
Each copy will cost $75,000 and the publishers say that ten have already been pre-ordered, with proceeds going towards Tendulkar's charitable foundation, which is building a school in Mumbai.
Mark Dummett, 大象传媒 News, Delhi
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Grammar
- mind-blowing
intensely strange and exciting
- opus
great work of art or literature
- enormous
very large
- gold leaf
very thin strips of gold used for decoration
- traces
extremely small amounts
- pulp
soft, soggy mass of crushed wood used to make paper
- a fitting tribute
an appropriate expression of admiration
- a religious icon
a figure worthy of worship
- pre-ordered
requested before the book has become available to the public
- proceeds
profits
